U.S. Amateur Tracker: Gunn Yang wins title

San Diego State’s Yang earned a 1-up lead in the morning 18, with Kent State product Conners quickly squaring things up on the first hole of the final 18 at Atlanta Athletic Club – but Yang opened a 2-up lead down the stretch and held on.

Recap the highlights right here!

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Hole No. 35: Par 3, 207 yards

Again, both players find the green. Yang thinks his putt is good but it doesn’t fall. Connors takes aim and his putt also misses – and Yang takes the title.

Match: Yang wins, 2 and 1

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Hole No. 34: Par 4, 476 yards

Conners and Yang both find the green here, Yang hitting it to about 5 feet or more and high-fiving his caddie. Conners putts it close enough to earn a conceded par. Yang also misses his birdie try and we head to the next.

Match: Yang leads, 2 up

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Hole No. 33: Par 3, 260 yards

Yang finds trouble off the tee here while Conners hits hybrid onto the green. Yang then hits one close for a good look at par. Conners’ birdie putt doesn’t fall and Yang’s fine shot from beside the green indeed matters.

Here’s Yang’s recovery pitch:

Yang makes his putt and the hole is halved with pars.

Match: Yang leads, 2 up

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Hole No. 32: Par 4, 451 yards

Next-to-last par 4 of the round here, and the start of a crucial stretch to hear our senior writer Adam Schupak tell it earlier:

As Conners hits his approach onto the green but 50 feet or more away, Yang hits his approach inside 20 feet and sinks the putt to again go 2 up – the sixth time today he’s done so.

Match: Yang leads, 2 up

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Hole No. 31: Par 4, 364 yards

Yang and Conners hit their approaches to inside 15 feet, yet neither can convert the birdie looks they earned themselves. Another halve as they come down the stretch.

Match: Yang leads, 1 up

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Hole No. 30: Par 5, 557 yards

Good back-and-forth hole here. Conners misses the fairway and lays up, then wedges onto the green in three – while Yang gets home in two, inside Conners. But Conners makes and Yang misses, and the hole is halved with birdies.

Match: Yang leads, 1 up

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Hole No. 29: Par 4, 456 yards

Weather delay here, with a bad storm passing through. Players mark their balls here on the 11th and take shelter.

After a 6:02 p.m. restart, both players make par – Yang with a sand save, Conners with a two-putt after another putt of his catches the edge – and try to reestablish their rhythm.

Match: Yang leads, 1 up

Safe to say that the standard bearer’s scoreboard upside down on the ground is never an indicator of good weather.

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Hole No. 28: Par 4, 449 yards

Both players hit it to makeable birdie range – Yang misses and Conners narrows the lead with a birdie putt. Game on.

Match: Yang leads, 1 up

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Hole No. 27: Par 4, 419 yards

Headed to the three-quarter pole, Conners gives himself a 10-footer or a little more for birdie with Yang more than 30 feet away. Conners’ birdie putt finds the edge but doesn’t fall and Yang two-putts to halve the hole.

Match: Yang leads, 2 up

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Hole No. 26: Par 4, 450 yards

Needing to regain some momentum, Conners drives his ball in the rough and hits his approach to the front of the green with the pin back – while Yang hits it into the fairway bunker and then pin-high for a good look at birdie. Conners two-putts from long distance and Yang misses his birdie try, and the hole is halved.

Match: Yang leads, 2 up

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Hole No. 25: Par 3, 189 yards

Yang again stretches his lead, two-putting for par after another sand-save attempt goes awry for Conners. Sudden momentum switch.

Match: Yang leads, 2 up

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Hole No. 24: Par 4, 298 yards

This one is set up for players to consider gambling with the driver, rather than its usual 429 on the card. Both players bite on the challenge and Conners finds a greenside bunker while Yang hits it over. Conners can’t get the sand save while Yang gets up and down for birdie to win the hole and reclaim the lead.

Match: Yang leads, 1 up

• • •

Hole No. 23: Par 5, 576 yards

Corey Conners has laid up at another par-5 and stuck his approach close, while Gunn Yang gets greenside in two again and chips on. Both then make their birdie putts and we’ve got a dogfight.

Match: All square

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Hole No. 22: Par 3, 202 yards

Conners has the advantage here, with his tee shot stopping about 10 feet or less from the hole while Yang might be 50 feet away. Both players two-putt and the tie remains.

Match: All square

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Hole No. 21: Par 4, 466 yards

There’s some rain falling in the Atlanta suburbs, and it’s reached the course as well. Bogeys halve the hole in their second pass at No. 3 and the match remains knotted up.

Match: All square

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Hole No. 20: Par 4, 513 yards

The match is square for the first time since the first fairway.

Conners follows with a nice sand save for par to earn another halve and keep himself in the thick of it.

Match: All square

• • •

Hole No. 19: Par 4, 446 yards

Talk about an afternoon restart: Corey Conners wins the 19th as Gunn Yang bogeys. Back to square one, 17 holes left on the docket.

Match: All square

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Hole No. 18: Par 5, 207 yards

Gunn Yang will head into the afternoon match with the advantage, as he steps to the 18th tee 2 up. He’s a considerably longer hitter than Corey Conners and looks to add another shot at this par 5. He hits it long and down the middle as Conners’ tee shot lands in a right-side fairway bunker. Yang reaches in two, maybe 50 feet from the pin, while Conners lays up and wedges on in three, well inside 10 feet. Yang’s long, downhill eagle try runs well past the hole; still away, he misses the comebacker and it’s a three-putt par. Conners capitalizes, sinking his birdie putt and narrowing the margin as they head to the break. We might be looking at a dramatic afternoon here.

Match: Yang leads, 1 up

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Hole No. 17: Par 3, 207 yards

Par-3 time again and both players find the green; neither is particularly close. Both two-putt and it’s another halve as we head to the last hole of the morning round.

Match: Yang leads, 2 up

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Hole No. 16: Par 4, 476 yards

Conners finds the fairway here and hits his approach to about 20 feet, while Yang misses the fairway left and the green long. But a pitch to inside 5 feet shows how hot Yang’s short game is today. He completes the up and down, Conners two-putts and the hole is halved.

Match: Yang leads, 2 up

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Hole No. 15: Par 3, 227 yards

Two of the next three holes are par-3s. Yang chips it on and makes par here, while Conners misses a birdie try as part of a three-putt. Yang again stretches the lead.

Match: Yang leads, 2 up

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Hole No. 14: Par 4, 451 yards

Both players hit it into the right-side fairway bunker, from where Conners comes up short of the green and Yang hits it on, within birdie range. But both players go on to a bogey. Should be interesting to see them take this hole on again in the afternoon.

Match: Yang leads, 1 up

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Hole No. 13: Par 4, 364 yards

Both players miss the green here and face long par tries. A pair of two-putts and a halve.

Match: Yang leads, 1 up

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Hole No. 12: Par 5, 557 yards

With about a 5-footer for birdie after laying up from trouble off the tee and wedging in, Corey Conners narrows Gunn Yang’s lead to one for the fourth time today. Yang was over the green in two and couldn’t get up and down from the rough.

Match: Yang leads, 1 up

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Hole No. 11: Par 4, 456 yards

Yang misses right of the green here and in the water – but a bogey putt earns a halve after Conners can’t get up and down from the rough and misses an opportunity.

Match: Yang leads, 2 up

• • •

Hole No. 10: Par 4, 449 yards

Although Yang led the entire front nine, the match seems closer than that – some good shots by Conners haven’t been rewarded, as a couple of putts just didn’t quite fall for him. Two good approaches here have the players looking at about 10 feet for birdie, but Yang rolls it just on the edge and Conners is short. Halved.

Match: Yang leads, 2 up

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Hole No. 9: Par 4, 419 yards

And for the third time after leading 1 up, Yang pushes his lead to two – this time after Conners had hit his approach much closer than Yang, but the leader made his long birdie try and Conners’ rolls over the edge of the cup.

Match: Yang leads, 2 up

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Hole No. 8: Par 4, 450 yards

A par for Conners wins this hole as Yang goes from a fairway bunker to a greenside one, then fails to get out of the latter. For the third time today, the Kent State standout narrows the Arizona State player’s lead to a hole.

Match: Yang leads, 1 up

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Hole No. 7: Par 3, 189 yards

Gunn Yang hits his tee shot to about 15 feet as Corey Conners finds the fringe. Conners rolls one to a little more than 5 feet and Yang misses as well, but his par wins the hole as Conners misses his par try.

Match: Yang leads, 2 up

• • •

Hole No. 6: Par 4, 414 yards

Gunn Yang misses the fairway while Corey Conners finds it, after which both players find the green with long birdie looks of about 30 feet or a little more. A pair of two-putts later, the hole is halved.

Match: Yang leads, 1 up

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Hole No. 5: Par 5, 576 yards

Both players are greenside in two on this par 5, and both in the bunker. They both wedge it inside 5 feet, and after Yang misses his putt he concedes Conners’ 2-footer. That narrows the gap.

Match: Yang leads, 1 up

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Hole No. 4: Par 3, 202 yards

Yang’s tee shot here settles about 15 feet so from the pin, while Conners finds his first green of the day about 5 feet or less from the pin. Yang misses his birdie try, then Conners’ lips out. Pars halve the hole.

Match: Yang leads, 2 up

• • •

Hole No. 3: Par 4, 466 yards

Yang misses the fairway, finding the bunker on the right and playing to the left rough from there. Conners, meanwhile, finds the fairway but for the third straight hole hits his approach into the bunker. Both players wedge on and need two putts. Bogeys for both.

Match: Yang leads, 2 up

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Hole No. 2: Par 4, 513 yards

Both players take driver here and Yang has about a 40-yard edge off the tee. His approach is pin high and inside 15 feet – and he makes the putt to extend this early lead over Conners.

Match: Yang leads, 2 up

• • •

Hole No. 1: Par 4, 446 yards

With about 1,000 people or more on hand in the gallery at Atlanta Athletic Club, the match is off to an exciting start.

Corey Conners finds the bunker with his approach shot, then hits a nice sand shot to just more than 5 feet, let’s call it. But the putt doesn’t fall, and Gunn Yang’s two-putt par wins the first hole of the final.

Match: Yang leads, 1 up

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Saturday coverage

Gunn Yang’s out-of-nowhere week continued on Saturday, as the San Diego State sophomore secured spots in the 2015 U.S. Open, 2015 Masters and in Sunday’s final at the U.S. Amateur with a 19-hole victory over Frederick Wedel.

Last year, Corey Conners fell one match short of the U.S. Amateur finale. This year he wasn’t going to let the opportunity slip away again; the 22-year-old Canadian advanced to the championship match after a 1-up victory over Denny McCarthy.